Re: synctex issue

Hi Alan,

On Sat, Apr 11, 2026 at 12:28 (-0400), Alan Bowen wrote:

> Thank you for your help.

You're welcome (such as it is!).

> The TeXShop engine for luametatex is LMTX and it  contains:
> mtxrun --script context --synctex "$1" --autogenerate --file-line-error --directives="system.showerror" --autopdf

Are you able to change it to --synctex=repeat ?

That produces a different format of synctex output which is more compatible
with the non-ConTeXt synctex program and synctex library.  Which TeXshop
may be using.

> I have limited experience with the command line, so I may have
> misunderstood you in the following.

> When I run:
> % cd Aestimatio_ns_v05
> and then
> % synctex edit -o 50:300:300:prd_Aestimatio-05.pdf
> I get:

> % synctex edit -o 50:30o:30o:prd_Aestimatio-05.pdf

Is there a cut-and-paste error here?  The last character of what should be
"300" is an "o".  Which is not good.

> This is SyncTeX command line utility, version 1.2
> SyncTeX ERROR: No SyncTeX available for prd_Aestimatio-05.pdf
> usage: synctex <subcommand> [options] [args]
> Synchronize TeXnology command-line client, version 1.17

Is the file prd_Aestimatio-05.synctex (or prd_Aestimatio-05.synctex.gz) in
that directory?  If so, my (wild) guess is that synctex is complaining
about the format of the synctex file, which might be helped with the
        --synctex=repeat
version.

> With 
> % mtxrun --script synctex --report --page=50  --x=300 --y=300 --tolerance=9999 prd_Aestimatio-05.synctex

> I get
> mtx-synctex     | invalid synctex log file 'prd_Aestimatio-05.synctex'

That is curious.

> In both instances, the file "prd_Aestimatio-05.synctex" is in the same directory and it has content. 

> What is puzzling is that synctex does work for all cases except for that
> from PDF file to one of a number of souurce files.

If your files (.tex, .pdf and .synctex_ are not huge, and they are not
"secret", feel free to mail them to me (directly is fine) and I will be
happy to take a look.  (No guarantees of success, however.)


                                        Jim

>> On Apr 9, 2026, at 12:34, Jim <[email protected]> wrote:

>> On Thu, Apr  9, 2026 at 11:25 (-0400), Alan Bowen wrote:

>>> Hi—

>>> I now have synctex working successfully for :
>>> 	PDF output—> single source file
>>> 	single source file—> PDF output
>>> 	any one of many included source files—> PDF output.

>>> What I have yet to get is
>>> 	PDF output—> one of many component files.
>>> (This last promises to be very useful in editing my journal.)

>>> I have no idea how to troubleshoot this and so any advice or guidance will be gratefully received.

>>> I am running the latest ConTeXt ( ver: 2026.03.25) and the latest TeXShop (ver. 5.58 with the luametatex engine) on macOS 26.4

>> Hi Alan,

>> I use synctex a lot, and while I run into some issues which I'm currently
>> trying to resolve, here's an example that I just tested that works for me
>> to go to a component file

>>       $ synctex edit -o 48:85:76:introCTX_eng.pdf
>> This is SyncTeX command line utility, version 1.5
>> SyncTeX result begin
>> Output:introCTX_eng.pdf
>> Input:01_BodyMatter/b03_Commands.tex
>> Line:40
>> Column:-1
>> Offset:0
>> Context:
>> SyncTeX result end

>> It got the file correct, but the line number is wrong.

>> I have never used TeXShop, so I don't know how it gets its synctex into
>> (i.e., internal library?
>> external synctex program?
>> mtxrun --script synctex ... ?
>> )

>> I would suggest testing a command-line synctex program to see if your
>> synctex file has the required info in it.

>> The syntax for the above "synctex edit" is
>> pdf-page:x-coord:y-coord:pdf-file.pdf
>> and that assumes the synctex file is in the same directory.  If not there
>> is another option needed.

>> mtxrun call from the command line is like
>> mtxrun --script synctex --report --page=48  --x=850 --y=1020 --tolerance=9999 introCTX_eng.synctex

>> I can't promise to be a while lot of help going forward, but I'm interested
>> in knowing how well things work for you, so please report back to the list.

>> Jim
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